Dream Catcher
by Seriously-Undesirable
Summary: One night, whilst unable to sleep, Clara finds a box full of things from the Doctor's past, one of them is an orange button wired up to the TARDIS console. After unknowingly fixing it, she accidentally sends herself, along with the Doctor, to a place out of this universe.
1. Chapter 1

The TARDIS hummed gently as Clara wondered throughout the console room, unable to sleep. It wasn't usual for her to stay the night, but the Doctor had a spare room and for a reason she couldn't quite place, she didn't want to go home, as though there was something keeping her here in the TARDIS, unwilling to let her sleep. The TARDIS seemed very different at night without the Doctor, it appeared quieter, stiller, as though it too was resting. She let her fingers graze over the ripples in the console's surface, feeling the grooves and elevations as she trailed around, idly fingering the material of her dressing gown.

She wasn't sure where the Doctor was but she was sure that he wasn't sleeping, sometimes she wondered if he ever slept. She found herself taking in more detail of the machine than she ever had done in the past, feeling the panelled flooring through her thin socks. She stared down, looking at the whole machine as though she hadn't seen it before. There was a panel just left to the entrance of the TARDIS that sat slightly out of its slot. She bent down and went to replace it, her teacher senses tingling as she feared of a broken ankle on the uneven flooring, she chuckled to herself at the thought of her mothering the Doctor like this, baby-proofing the TARDIS as if he hadn't been travelling in it for her life span ten times over. As she looked through the gaps in the flooring, she saw a chest that had been gathering dust for what seemed like decades, if not longer.

She removed the cold, metal panel and fishes the chest out. It appeared ancient and unused for a long time but she could feel from its weight that it was full. She opened the rusting box and found a collection of seemingly unconnected objects; an emerald glowing orb, an Agatha Christie book entitled 'Death in the Clouds' that she had never heard of, a round metal disc and a large round button. It was dull and lifeless, unlike the luminous sphere that resembled a crystal ball, but she could see that it was once orange. It wasn't like anything she had seen before, it seemed perfectly ordinary, but there was something about it, as though it was speaking to her through some sort of telekinesis, although having travelled with the Doctor that didn't seem as unlikely as she would have thought a year ago.

She plucked it out of the box and found that it was attached to a long thread of wires that had also been hooked up to the TARDIS console. There were more wires in the chest although they weren't attached to anything but the console. She picked one out. It wasn't shaped like the sort of wire that connected your phone or television. She scanned the metallic casing of the coral ball that would fit the head of the wire. She found one hidden between two larger wires, although she realesed that if the Doctor had been the one to connect it to the console then he would most definitely tried this wire and found that it, much like the others that accompanied it in the chest, did not work. However, Clara's curiosity got the better of her and she wedged the cable into the slot. To her amazement she found the button came to life, a brilliant orange glow emitting from it.

'Wow,' she whispered to herself, a happiness growing inside of her as she watched the thing in her hands radiate light.

'Clara, what are you doing?' a voice from the other side of the console made her jump and shoot up.

'Oh, Doctor, I was just about to get you. Look,' she pointed at the floor by her feet, 'I fixed your button-thing.' she smiled.

'What button-thing?' he asked, softly stroking a patch of the TARDIS.

'This,' she exclaimed, reaching down and using the console for support, her slim fingers wrapped around the object as she stood up to show the Doctor her work.

The Doctor seemed to shift instantly when orange glow became visible, 'Clara you mustn't touch that-' suddenly the TARDIS came to life for a second before it slammed down on the earth again, sending Clara and the Doctor to fall over. 'Clara, what have you done?'

'Nothing, I didn't do anything-' the Doctor swept past her and swung the door open. He raced out, ignoring any and all questions Clara yelled at him from still inside the TARDIS.

He slowly turned in a circle, taking in every detail as though making sure he knew where he was. The shock on his face had drained his cheeks of colour and his knees seemed to tremble. Clara through off her dressing gown and wrapped herself in the jacket that hung next to the TARDIS door,she stepped out, a flood of concern rushing over her as she feared what was the matter with the Doctor.

'Doctor? What is it? What's wrong?' she forced him to stop and held his face in her hands, although he did not look at her. His eyes wondered around their surroundings, wide open and staring. 'Doctor!' she shouted, worry over taking her.

His eyes snapped back, his posture changed. He looked at her with a mixture of over joy and absolute terror. 'Clara, do you know where we are?'

'Yeah, we're in London Doctor, just like we were before.' despite the Doctor's alter in appearance, she still remained worried and tense.

'We're in London Clara, but not like ever before.'


	2. Chapter 2

'How did you do that? You shouldn't have been able to do that.' the Doctor spun around, his fingers gripping Clara's shoulders.

'What did you mean how did I do that? How did I do what? I just pressed the button.' the Doctor suddenly realised how tightly he was holding onto her and let go. He apologised and offered a weak smile.

'That button shouldn't have worked. It should never have worked.' there was something hidden behind his eyes, as though he was refusing to allow the happiness to come through to the surface.

'What was it? Where are we?'

'I- I can't be sure, not yet.' the Doctor began on a path to a destination Clara couldn't make out, she followed his movements through the seemingly normal streets, every other step heading on a different path or direction.

'Doctor!' she called after a specifically tight turn down an ally way to their left, 'Doctor, we have been walking for ages, where are we going? Where are we now?'he didn't reply, simply continued on his apparently random journey to seemingly no where.

The Doctor knew where he was, but he was also painfully aware that his presence here was impossible, there was no way that Clara would have been able to solve a problem he had been trying for hundreds of years in a matter of seconds with a trick so simple as a wire. As he walked the familiar streets, pieces of old memories flashed before him. He tried desperately to suppress the sense of over joy because if he was right about their location, then he was right about its residence.

It took them another half an hour following the Doctor's lead, going in full circles, cutting behind buildings, in front of moving cars, through car parks and even in and through a shop, until the doctor finally stopped so abruptly that Clara almost fell over in her attempt not the crash into him.

'It's here.' he let out a sigh, this was where she lived, this was where _they_ lived. A sudden wave of dread came over him as he remembered the day all that time ago, on a beach in Norway, where he said goodbye and watched a version of himself with the woman he loved.

It had been a long time since the Doctor had seen Rose Tyler. He had had to accept his fate, that he would be unable to give her the life he deserved, and so he let her go. Rose got her Doctor but the Doctor never got his Rose. There hadn't been a day passed he didn't think of her. Even in passing thought, during some wild adventure just in the back of his mind he always thought of how much Rose would have loved it, how she would have offered up some seemingly obvious idea once said but one that the Doctor never would have thought of. The thought of seeing her again made his heart ache. His face was knew, and he appeared a new man. But he was still the Doctor, with the same feelings and memories, he still loved her with all of his heart, though he had accepted he would never see her again and even if he did, even by some miracle he saw her again, she had her her life, her Doctor.

'What's here, Doctor?' Clara's voice brought him out of the trance like state he had drifted into.

A door close by opened and closed, a woman's voice could be heard bidding farewell to a loved one still in the house, she spoke softly as one might to a child. The Doctor stopped, a lump in his throat prevented him from answering Clara's question. A single tear rolled down his cheek and landed on his chest, a faint smile pulled the corners of his mouth up slightly as he stared at the woman, whose hair was blonde and longer than he remembered he heard himself chuckled as he imagined her letting it grow longer as she grew older. It wasn't long before the woman had turned the corner and disappeared from sight.

'Clara Oswald,' the Doctor spun around to face the bewildered brunette behind him, 'you impossible girl, doing the impossible.' he hugged her tighter than he had ever hugged her in their short time travelling.

'Er- thanks? But I still don't understand where we are Doctor.' the fear had faded from her tone but the confusion still remained.

'We're in Pete's World.' he stated as he threw his hands in his pockets and began off down the street.

'Pete's World? What's that, some kind of Planet run by some guy called Pete?' she laughed as she caught up to him.

'Nah, that's what I call it.' he turned and smiled a smile he hadn't done for some time.


End file.
